Real World
Ratings18
Average rating2.9
In a crowded Tokyo suburb, four teenage girls indifferently wade their way through a hot, smoggy summer. When one of them, Toshi, discovers that her nextdoor neighbor has been brutally murdered, the girls suspect the killer is the neighbor's son. But when he flees, taking Toshi's bike and cell phone with him, the four girls get caught up in a tempest of dangers that rise from within them as well as from the world around them. Psychologically intricate and astute, Real World is a searing, eye-opening portrait of teenage life in Japan unlike any we have seen before.
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This was a little unsettling (it was meant to be) and really interesting! There was one POV chapter that felt a little unnecessary to me, and some of the backstory slowed down the pacing a bit, but overall I found Toshi, Yuzan, Worm, Kirarin and Terauchi's story bizarrely fascinating and engaging. This is my first venture into Japanese lit and a great start so far—I definitely enjoyed it.
Diversity note: all characters are Japanese (obviously) and one POV character is lesbian.
I can say nothing good about this book. I'm kind of at a loss. Everyone was sort of pathetic and blah and took themselves way too seriously, even for teenagers.
